Have you considered coastal piracy (CP) for this deck?

With all of the 1/1s in a battlecruser formant you are generally at a disadvantage (even with you extreme tempo) you can further dominate the card advantage race with it.

I would recommend dropping aqueous form (AF) for CP since AF is card disadvantage if you ninjustu the creature wearing the aura. Furthermore CP turns all of your 1/1s into Ninja of the Deep Hours.

CP would also help you recover from a wrath which would pretty much nutter your gameplan. Drawing an unblockable 1/1 after one opponent uses Toxic Deluge then slams a Grave Titan hurts. But if that 1/1 can refuel you, it's actually a tempo race your back to winning since you can regain your footing with card advantage.

Its also a relatively budget option to include and will up your blue devotion for Thassa.

@ Earth_Seed Thanks, that's a great suggestion! I'll definitely have to try out Coastal Piracy and see how it pans out. I'm gonna have a hard time dropping Aqueous Form though, since making Yuriko unblockable and scrying each attack has been quite good!

I really like Winged Sliver -- it is a one mana flyer that also gives flying to changelings (and creatures that become slivers through enchantment effects)

i meant Galerider Sliver

@ bu11fr0g oh yeah that does seem good, might have to give Galerider Sliver a try! thank you!

I'm a simple man I see a Demon Slayer reference I +1

@ Casey4321 Ah, I see you are a man of culture as well :')

azja Yessir. Can't wait for the Infinity Train.

Have you considered Phryxian Walker in addition to ornithopter? It doesn't have evasion but it can set you up with a lot of super aggressive starts. Any hand with a one drop changeling and a 0 drop is all gas.

NeonMushroom Sorry I didn't see your comment earlier! My playgroup tends to play creature-heavy decks, so I personally don't run Phyrexian Walker. But playing it in a meta where your opponents are less likely to have blockers is definitely correct.

Have you thought of including Cloud of Faeries So you could untap two lands after returning it to hand for more synergy?

gvcortez2588 Thanks for leaving a suggestion! I actually had Cloud of Faeries in the original decklist, but after some playtesting I found that it was unusual for me to have 2 mana leftover to recast Cloud of Faeries after using ninjutsu in the early turns of the game. My rule of thumb for 2 drops is that they aren't good enough unless they manipulate the top of your library like Sage Owl does, or gives evasion like Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive.

Hey azja, I really like your list and I have been working on updating mine! Have you ever thought about swapping out Blinkmoth Infusion with Treasure Cruise or Expropriate so it still hits hard, but can also be useful.

Also thoughts on Gingerbrute?

Thanks!

Also if you got a Jace, the Mind Sculptor what would you replace for it? If you would even run it. :)

DivineKhaos Thanks for the comment and upvote!

I personally like having 2 cards in the "Burn" category in case one ends up in my hand, that way I can still tutor up the other if I want to end the game quickly. Although Blinkmoth Infusion isn't particularly useful for casting, you can pitch it to Force of Will, Force of Negation or Misdirection since it's blue. I don't find myself ever having enough mana to hard cast Expropriate, but I think Treasure Cruise is a great option if you need more card draw.

As for Gingerbrute, I think it's a great card in cEDH versions of Yuriko since it has haste. But in grindier, damage-focused Yuriko decks, I find paying 1 to make it unblockable isn't worth it, since you could just play something like Mist-Cloaked Herald instead.

In my opinion, Jace, the Mind Sculptor isn't the best fit for Yuriko decks because our creatures are so small and unable to block attackers. More often than not, you'll pay 4 mana to brainstorm on the turn you cast Jace, and he'll be dead by the time it gets to your next turn.

I hope this was helpful! :D

azja Ya I agree with all you said, thanks!

I would 100% recommend the new cards Sea Gate Restoration and Clearwater Pathway both instead of islands!

Having a 7 mana land is going to be amazing when Yuriko comes out. There is also a 3 cmc black land spell but paying 3 life to be untapped doesn't seem worth running it. The rest of the new dimir land spells come in tapped sadly.

Hey, just wanted to say that I built a deck very similar to your decklist, it's very strong and super of fun to play! Thank you for the detailed primer and for keeping it up to date!

Do you have any upgrades planned for Zendikar Rising? I was thinking of adding "Sea Gate Restoration // Sea Gate, Reborn" and "Agadeem's Awakening // Agadeem, the Undercrypt" as my life total is rarely threatened quickly enough, so I should be able to play them untapped for 3 life if I need to almost every time as well What's your take on that on those cards?

I've also been toying with the thought of adding a Yawgmoth's Will to rebuild easily after a boardwipe since having no board presence quickly leaves me out of steam (maybe I'm just overcommitting to the board sometimes?).

As a sidenote, I do have to say that Gingerbrute works really well in my experience / playgroup, especially when reestablishing a boardstate a hasty unblockable creature is not to be underestimated! :)

@Snake57

Your comment made my day! I'm glad that you found my primer helpful and that you're enjoying playing Yuriko!

Yep, I'll be adding both Sea Gate Restoration and Agadeem's Awakening to the deck as soon as I get my hands on them. My expectation is that I won't be casting the sorcery side very often, if at all, but any land that deals damage off Yuriko's trigger seems worth it. Another one I plan on adding is Clearwater Pathway.

I think Yawgmoth's Will is a great addition to any black deck. I think the price probably isn't worth the upgrade, but if your playgroup is cool with proxies you could definitely try it out.

I've heard a lot of other players vouching for Gingerbrute in Yuriko. I'll have to give it another try, maybe I underestimated it!

Hello again! Thank you for the response :)

Totally forgot about Clearwater Pathway pretty much perfect to slot in here, are you just going to cut an Island for it? What lands are you going to cut for the flip cards? I was pretty much only considering Yawgmoth's Will because I have two in Decks I don't really feel need it that much. Luckily bought those before they became this expensive so I've been considering to try it out in Yuriko instead, just uncertain about what to cut for it.

I don't want to barrage you with questions, so please don't feel the need to address them, but I figured asking wouldn't hurt :)

Have you considered Commandeer? I was thinking about trying it out, but I'm very unsure if exiling two cards may be too steep a cost in some situations?

What about Snuff Out or Dismember are they too narrow?

Would you consider cutting either Coastal Breach or Evacuation for a Cyclonic Rift?

@Snake57 No problem! I love to talk about Yuriko, so your questions and suggestions are always welcome!

My plan is to cut 1 island, 1 swamp and Darkslick Shores for Sea Gate Restoration, Agadeem's Awakening and Clearwater Pathway.

As for Yawgmoth's Will, I think most Yuriko decks are fast enough that we can't bring out the card's full potential. I find this deck wins sometime around turn 6-7. At that point in the game, I usually have around 6-7 mana to work with, which only leaves 3-4 mana to cast things from my graveyard after casting it. But since you have one, I would definitely say to try it out. Let me know how it goes!

I actually just bought myself a Commandeer! So I'll be trying it out soon, but I haven't decided what to cut for it yet. It seems like exiling 2 cards is quite a steep price, but if it counters an early Pithing Needle or Dictate of Erebos, it's probably worth it.

I think Snuff Out is an amazing card for Yuriko decks. My playgroup is heavily focused around black decks, so I unfortunately can't play it often. But in a blind meta, Snuff Out is my second favourite removal spell after Deadly Rollick.

I also think that Dismember is a great card for Yuriko, I've considered running it for a long time. I just don't think its as effective as Deadly Rollick, Submerge or Curtains' Call, and it doesn't hit as hard as Consign / Oblivion or Commit / Memory. So its mostly an issue of finding a place for it, rather than it not being good enough!

I had Cyclonic Rift in the deck for a long time. I found myself not being able to hit 7 mana consistently, so it ended up being a 2 mana bounce spell too often. Coastal Breach is usually pretty strong, but Evacuation sometimes feels lackluster. I've been thinking of replacing Evacuation with Devastation Tide for a while, seeing how consistently this deck can cast Temporal Mastery for its miracle cost.

Hopefully this was helpful! Feel free to post questions/suggestions for me anytime, friend!

Hello again Azja!

All of your considerations make a ton of sense, It's very clear you have spent a lot of time tuning this deck! Thank you very very much for the detailed explanations, I genuinely appreciate it :)

I'll keep a close eye on your decklist for any changes you make and really look forward to playing more games with Yuriko!

hi! i have one question: why is the changeling Outcast under enabler and the Mothdust Changeling oder Ninjas? is there purpose not the same? to be both? ninjas and enablers?

Btw: i love that you use the Custom-Tag-Function. its so easy to say whats the purpose of every card in the deck. i wish more ppl would use it

@Cratuss

You're totally right! Both Changeling Outcast and Mothdust Changeling have pretty much the same role in the deck. I chose to only list Changeling Outcast as an enabler because it has built-in evasion, whereas Mothdust Changeling requires me to have another creature to give it evasion. They could belong in both categories, I just didn't want to double-list any cards!

And thank you! I find the custom tag function to be super helpful as well. When I'm playing a deck and it isn't performing as well as I'd hoped, I can look at the categories and easily determine what needs adjusting.

Two other additions that I have found very helpful. Nexus of Fate is an instant that shuffles back into the deck. This along with Doomsday for infinite turns (choosing Temporal Mastery and other timewalks to complete the pile) has become my most common win condition. Also note that the number of unblockable creatures make equipment extra good in this deck. I run Sword of Feast and Famine.

@bu11fr0g Thanks for the comment! Sorry I was so late replying!

I used to play Nexus of Fate, but I ended up cutting it for the same reason as Cyclonic Rift: This deck can't reliably hit 7 mana, and there are other ways to do something similar for less.

I really like the idea of an infinite turns Doomsday pile. But, my lgs has a points system where you lose points for things such as infinite combos, infinite turns, etc. So it won't quite work for me, but it might work for you!

As for Sword of Feast and Famine, I personally don't like equipment in Yuriko decks. I would rather draw another enabler or another counterspell every time over equipment. But Sword of Feast and Famine equipped to an unblockable creature does sound pretty spicy.

Hope this was helpful!